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Main case

Royal Ahold: International growth and acquisitions

By Freek Vermeulen

2023

On October 13 2004, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed fraud and other charges in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia against Royal Ahold and three former top executives, including CEO and Chairman Cees van der Hoeven, thus terminating the career of the once-powerful leader.

Tangled in an accusatory web of fraud and securities violations, Van der Hoeven and his colleagues are dismissed and permanently barred from serving as officers or directors of public companies. Neither denying nor admitting any wrongdoing, Van der Hoeven is forced to resign from the company he so passionately grew into a multinational empire.

Learning objectives

  1. Understand the origins of company strategy and the process of strategy evolution
  2. Identify process dependence in building a profitable multinational corporation
  3. Learn how acquisitions revitalise companies
  4. Recognise the causes and consequences of CEO celebrity
  5. Identify the Influences on corporate growth strategy

Details

Publication Date: November 2023
LBS Case Code: CS-06-004
Topic:
Subjects: , , , ,
Industry:
Geography: ,
Pages: 21
Format: pdf